News

By John Jalsevac

TORONTO, Ontario, June 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Toronto’s tourism board has launched a new campaign to attract big-spending homosexual American tourists. The catch-phrase of the newest effort to paint Toronto as the place to go for homosexuals is: “Toronto: As gay as it gets.”

  According to Tourism Toronto, which has been working with Gay Marketing Advisory Group to develop the new initiative, the intention is to show that Toronto is more than simply accepting of, or friendly towards homosexuals.

Homosexual activist Councillor Kyle Rae, who is playing a central role to the new strategy, said, “The tag line ‘Toronto: As gay as it gets’ comes out of people talking about their cities as being gay-friendly. Toronto’s not gay-friendly—it’s gay,” Rae said.

“This is where the fight for the equality of rights started.”

“There’s an awful lot of research to back up that gay and lesbian travellers are lucrative to any destination that has the benefit of receiving visitation – staying longer, travelling often, spending more,” said Tourism Toronto president and CEO David Whitaker, according to the Globe and Mail.
  The billboard and print ad campaign will target some of the United States’ most liberal cities, including San Francisco, Los Angles, New York and Chicago.

  Toronto Tourism already has an entire section of its website dedicated to homosexual tourism, highlighting some of the homosexual friendly attractions, including Toronto Islands’ Hanlon Point’s “clothing-optional” beach.

  The announcement of the new advertising effort comes as thousands of homosexual men and women and pro-homosexual activists converge on Toronto for the annual Gay Pride week. In the past Toronto’s massive parade has been condemned by pro-family advocates for its widespread violation of public decency laws, with numerous instances of full, public nudity and other lewd acts.